Birth of a Dream
by Heavenly Pearl
Summary: When Yume sees her adopted big sister Sora perform at Kaleido Stage, a new dream is born.


Birth of a Dream

Five-year-old Naegino Yume couldn't sit still as she and her parents rode in a cab to Kaleido Stage, popping up from her seat every few minutes to stretch over her mother's and father's laps and look out the window. Though she had been born in the U.S. and had visited a few times when she was younger, this was the first time she was actually old enough to appreciate the sights, and Yume was determined to remember every single detail of her trip.

The event she was most looking forward to, however, was watching her big sister Sora perform in Kaleido Stage's new production of "Beauty and the Beast". From the way Sora described it over the phone, it was to be one of their most ambitious shows to date, featuring a death-defying trapeze act that made their mother shudder in fear every time she thought of it.

Yume had no doubt Sora would come through the show just fine, though. After all, Sora had performed both the Legendary Great Maneuver and the Angel's Maneuver with her partners Layla Hamilton and Leon Oswald, respectively. Compared to those two supernatural acts, what Sora would be doing today in the show would be mere child's play.

Though Yume had attended both of those special performances with her parents, since she had only been a baby at the time, she didn't remember them. She did have videos of the shows, though, and not a day went by when she didn't watch them at least once, marveling at the absolute beauty of the acts and the courage of her big sister, who Yume thought must be the bravest person in the world to try such dangerous stunts. She couldn't wait to be able to see Sora perform in person again.

"Are we almost there yet, otou-san?" Yume asked, tugging on her father's sleeve. She was beginning to become impatient at what seemed like an impossibly long ride, though in truth it had only been fifteen minutes since they left the Hamilton Hotel, where they were staying.

Her father chucked. "Just a few more minutes, Yume," he said. "See, you can see Kaleido Stage from here."

"Where? Where? Where?" she asked, causing her parents to laugh at the habit she had picked up from Sora, who had a tendency to repeat words when she was overly excited or upset.

He pointed it out to her, and Yume once again popped up from her seat, climbing onto her father's lap to press her face up against the window. Her eyes widened and her breath fogged up the glass as she stared out at the large, colorful tent-like structure surrounded almost entirely by water.

"Wow…" Yume breathed. It was even more magnificent then she remembered from her last trip to Cape Mary about a year ago.

"Yume, will you please sit back down and put your seatbelt on?" her mother lightly scolded. "As your father said, we'll be there in a matter of minutes, and I would like to make it there alive in one piece, okay?"

"Yes, okaa-san."

Reluctantly, Yume returned to her seat in between her parents and allowed her mother to buckle her seatbelt, though her eyes never left Kaleido Stage. Within minutes, they finally arrived at their destination, and Yume was the first one out of the cab, climbing over her father's lap to get out on his side while he carefully counted out the correct number of unfamiliar American dollar bills to pay for their fare.

"Come on, otou-san, okaa-san!" she shouted, running a little bit ahead toward the entrance and waving to her parents to follow her.

"Just a minute, Yume," her mother said when she got out of the cab, smiling. "There's no rush. The show doesn't start for another thirty minutes."

Sighing at her slow-poke parents, Yume turned her attention to the poster for the new show, which seemed to be suspended by magic inside a crystal ball, although if a person looked hard enough, they could see the thin threads that allowed the poster to turn around on its axis. She smiled, thinking Sora looked like a beautiful princess in her costume and that Leon somehow managed to look the part of the beast despite his pretty boy looks, and made a mental note to herself to remind her parents to buy her a poster so that she could get everybody's autographs after the show.

Once her parents had finished paying the cabbie, they all headed inside, where they almost immediately ran into Ken Robbins. He appeared to have been waiting for them, for Yume caught him looking down at his watch and frowning just before he spotted them and waved them over.

"Konnichiwa, Naegino-san," he said in halting Japanese, bowing respectfully when they joined him. "Sora-chan wanted me to tell you to meet her backstage before the show. She's waiting for you all in her private dressing room."

"Arigatou, Robbins-kun," Yume's father replied. "I see those Japanese lessons you've been taking have started paying off."

Ken blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sora's been helping me practice," he admitted, switching back to his native English, which made it more difficult for Yume to understand him. "I'm far from being completely fluent, though. Japanese is a difficult language to learn."

"Keep practicing. You will learn eventually. I know it took Sora several years of English conversational classes before she felt comfortable with the language."

"I will, sir," Ken promised. "Shall I show you to Sora's dressing room now?"

Yume's mother nodded and smiled. "Please. I am anxious to see my daughter. It's been a long time."

"Follow me, then."

Taking the lead, Ken took them backstage, which was full of last-minute activity as everyone got ready for the show. Performers were running around half-dressed, looking for missing pieces of their elaborate costumes, stagehands were checking equipment to make sure everything was in proper working order, and as they passed by an open door, Yume heard what she thought was Mia Guillem's voice, giving some directions to a group of girls dressed in teacup costumes.

Her mother, rightly afraid that Yume might run off in all the chaos, took one of her hands, keeping a firm grasp on her at all times. Yume pouted, wishing she could explore some more on her own, but perked up again when Ken finally stopped in front of a closed door with a big star painted on it and lightly knocked.

"Sora, your family is here," he announced. "I brought them like you asked."

"Thanks! Be there in a second, Ken!" her muffled voice replied. True to her word, it only took a moment before the door swung open and Sora came out, already dressed in her costume for the first act, though she hadn't yet done her make-up and hair. "Otou-san, okaa-san, Yume! I'm so happy to see you! Come in, come in, come in!"

Ken, giving them some private family time together, quietly excused himself to resume his trainer duties, and they followed Sora inside her spacious dressing room. They weren't Sora's only guests, though. Sitting on the couch was the world famous diabolo champion and rising trapeze star Rosetta Passel, one of Yume's all-time favorite performers at Kaleido Stage -- next to her sister, of course. Rosetta stood from the couch to greet them, but Yume, feeling a little star-struck in the presence of such greatness, hid behind her mother's skirt, much to everybody's shared amusement.

"Yume, you don't have to be shy around Rosetta," Sora said, gently pulling Yume away from their mother and pushing her toward the redhead. "Rosetta, Yume's one of your biggest fans. You should see her room at home. She's always asking me to send her posters and pictures of you."

"Is that so, Yume?" Rosetta asked, kneeling down in front of Yume so that they were about eye level. Yume felt her cheeks grow hot at their close proximity. "Thank you for being such a big fan. I hope you enjoy my performance today."

Not wanting one of her idols to think she was a baby for not being able to speak, Yume stuttered, "Ar-Are you doing the trapeze?" in Japanese, which Sora translated for Rosetta.

"No, not this time," she answered with a smile, standing back up and picking up her diabolo from the couch so that Yume would understand what she was saying. "Mia really wanted to use my diabolo in her big teacup scene. See, aren't these specially-made diabolo cute? They look like little teacups glued together at their bottoms."

They really were cute. Instead of the usual solid color diabolo, the ones Rosetta would be using for the show were mostly white, with a pretty rose border at the ends that echoed the trim on the teacup costumes Yume briefly saw on the way to Sora's dressing room. Rosetta's costume, however, was different from the others, in that she was wearing a pink leotard with a sparkly white tutu to make it easier to perform her diabolo act, and she wore a large pink rose painted with glitter in her red hair, right behind her left ear.

"Kawaii!" Yume said when Rosetta let her hold one of the diabolo, for the minute forgetting about her shyness.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Sora, I hate to interrupt, but is Rosetta in there with you?" a voice that sounded like Ken's said. "Mia wants to talk to her to discuss some last minute changes she made to the teacup number."

"Tell Mia I'll be right there, Ken," Rosetta called back, taking her diabolo back from Yume. "Well, I guess I better go, then. It was nice seeing you all again, and I hope you enjoy the show. Yume, I'll give you an autograph later, okay?"

She pretended to write her signature in the air, and Yume grinned and nodded, understanding without Sora's translation.

After Rosetta left, Sora remembered she still had to do her make-up, so she sat down at her vanity table and chatted with their parents about the show and what had been going on in her life since the last time she called. Yume, for her part, was unusually quiet, watching Sora expertly line her eyes and paint her lips as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world, which, to her, it was. She couldn't wait until she was old enough to wear make-up and be as pretty as Sora was.

Almost as if she sensed what Yume was thinking, after she finished putting on her make-up, Sora plucked a tube of lip gloss from her make-up kit and turned to face Yume. "Hey, how would you like to try on this lip gloss, Yume?" she asked. "It's cherry-flavored, very yummy."

"Sora, I think Yume is a bit too young to be wearing make-up," their mother said before Yume could answer.

"Don't worry, okaa-san. It's just a flavored gloss. You won't even be able to tell she's wearing it."

"Can I, okaa-san?" Yume pleaded. "Please?"

"Just a little, Sora," their mother relented. "Don't go overboard."

"I won't."

Tilting Yume's chin upwards, Sora used a small brush to pick up some of the gloss from the tube, then lightly painted Yume's lips with it. When she had finished, Yume pursed her lips together as she had seen Sora do after she applied her lipstick and looked at her reflection in the mirror above Sora's vanity table. As Sora had promised their mother, the gloss was barely visible other than making her lips look wet and shiny, but if she looked hard enough, Yume thought she could tell a slight difference in the shade. They were a little pinker than usual.

"Pretty!" she exclaimed, pouting her lips like a movie star. Her family laughed.

"Well, Midori, it looks like it's about time we go find our seats," their father announced, looking down at his watch when the laughter died down. "It's almost time for the show to start, and I'm sure Sora needs to get ready."

"Yes, I should start warming up," Sora admitted. "I'll see you after the show?"

"Of course. Your mother and I want to take our big star out to dinner."

Sora modestly blushed. "Otou-san…"

"Be careful out there, okay?" their mother said, giving Sora's hand a squeeze. "I know you've been doing this for a while now, but your mother still worries about you."

"I will, okaa-san," she promised, and an excited Yume and her parents left to go find their special reserved seats.

* * *

Apparently, being the reigning Kaleido Star meant getting great perks, like reserving some of the best seats in the house for family and friends. They were sitting in the seventh row near the center, close enough to really see the performers' faces, but far enough away that they could see the full effect of the stage without having to turn their heads. Yume took the seat between her mother and father, but she was far too excited to keep still, constantly turning around in her seat to see the audience behind her or peering over the shoulders of the person in front of her to look at the stage, even though the show hadn't begun yet.

"Yume, settle down," her father chuckled, tugging on the back of her dress to get her to sit back down. "I know you're anxious for the show to start, but it should be beginning in just a minute or two."

As if on cue, the lights started to dim, the spotlights turned on, and the voices of the audience died down into a low, awed murmur. Yume sat back down in her seat, her heart pounding in excitement as the diva Sarah Dupont, playing the role of the beautiful witch who puts the curse on the prince when he is unkind to her while she is disguised as an old hag, began singing the haunting opening song.

Sora hadn't lied when she said it was an ambitious show. From the opening scene, featuring Sarah's breathtaking vocals and Leon's expert skill on the Corde Lisse, Yume was enraptured by the spectacle in front of her. She didn't even blink unless it was absolutely necessary, afraid that she would miss something extraordinary.

Young teenager Marion Benignimaking her debut as lead trampoline artist, just like her late mother, thrilled the audience with her high-flying flips. Yume had never seen a person bounce so high in her entire life. In the role of one of the Beast's enchanted servants, the comedian's daughter Anna Heart earned hearty laughter as a clumsy candlestick who accidentally kept lighting things on fire, leading to a fantastic scene filled with dangerous fire performances. May Wong, a former figure skater, returned to the discipline, performing a beautiful routine on the ground while Sora and Leon soared in the air above her, and Rosetta's teacup number was, of course, a hit, the diabolo champion in fine form as the troupe of teacups spun around her.

Finally, it was time for the climax of the show, Sora and Leon's daring trapeze number.

At that point in the show, the beast had just been stabbed by Sora's unwanted suitor during a tight-rope performance reminiscent of the one Sora and Layla Hamilton did for "Arabian Nights" and was dying. It was then that Sora's character realized that she truly loved the beast, despite his terrifying appearance. Sora, now dressed in the stunning yellow costume she wore on the show's poster, ran over to Leon's lifeless body, laying on a trapeze platform, and began to weep.

In an expression of her grief, Sora then took to the trapeze alone, performing a few simple maneuvers that even a beginner would have no problem doing. Just when she was about to let go and fall to the safety net below, however, Leon, alive and back to his handsome self, grabbed onto another bar and joined the act, bringing happiness and life back to the young beauty who loved him for who he was.

What followed after that was indescribable by mere words. Not only did Yume not blink, she didn't breath either as she watched Sora and Leon fly like birds among the bars, each trick they performed more difficult and awe-inspiring than the next. At one point, Leon threw Sora so high in the air, Yume thought their mother was going to have a heart attack. They both let out a huge sigh of relief, though, when Leon managed to catch Sora on her descent back down, tossing her back toward her own bar.

When they finally finished their routine, ending with a move former Kaleido Stars Layla Hamilton and Yuri Killian had made famous called the Golden Phoenix, Yume was among the first of the audience on her feet, clapping so hard, it felt as if her hands were on fire. Her big sister was truly meant for the stage. Marion, Anna, May, Leon, and even Rosetta… They were all wonderful performers, but there was something extra special about Sora that put her above the rest, something unexplainable, but noticeable all the same.

"Sora was just wonderful today, wasn't she, Yume?" her father asked once some of the applause had died down.

Yume, who still hadn't stopped clapping, nodded. "Oh, yeah, onee-chan is the best!"

"I still have no idea how Sora can pull off all those stunts," her mother said with a shake of her head, though she was clapping almost as enthusiastically as Yume. "It's almost like magic, isn't it?"

"Come on, let's go backstage and congratulate her," Yume's father suggested, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pushing Yume toward the aisle.

When they made their way backstage, however, it was almost impossible to find Sora. It was just as busy after the show as it was before, maybe even more so as performers did their cool down exercises and crew members took down the set and got the stage ready again for the next performance, which was later that evening. Rosetta, not forgetting her promise, ran up to them with an autographed poster for Yume, but she had no idea where Sora was either.

"Check outside," Rosetta suggested. "She might be giving out autographs. She's technically not supposed to outside the scheduled times for fans to meet the performers, but you know Sora." The diabolo champion rolled her eyes, but she seemed more amused than annoyed by Sora's lack of regard for the rules. After all, she was guilty of the same thing by giving Yume the autographed poster, which Yume was already trying to decide where she would hang it in her bedroom back home in Japan.

Taking Rosetta's suggestion, they headed outside, where they did indeed find Sora surrounded by a group of kids and a couple of adults, handing out autographs. She was almost done, though, so they stayed back until she finished, Yume running over the second Sora passed back the last boy's notebook and the group left.

"Onee-chan! Onee-chan! Onee-chan! You were amazing!" Yume shouted, throwing her arms around Sora's waist.

"Thank you, Yume," Sora laughed, tousling Yume's hair. "So you enjoyed the show?"

"We all did, Sora," their mother said, joining them with their father. "It was a wonderful performance."

"You should be very proud of yourself," their father added.

"Everybody worked very hard to make this the best show possible," Sora said, refusing, as always, to take all the credit. "I'm just so glad you all could make it."

"So are we."

Yume nodded in agreement.

"Hey, what do you have there, Yume?" Sora asked, pointing to the rolled-up poster in her hand when Yume finally released her from their embrace. "Is that from Rosetta?"

Yume nodded. "She signed it and everything! See?"

She handed the poster over to her big sister, and Sora unrolled it, reading and translating aloud the English Yume couldn't understand: "To Yume. May you always follow your dreams. Love, Rosetta."

"That was nice of her," Sora said with a smile, rolling the poster back up and handing it back to Yume. "What is your dream, Yume? Do you still want to be a world famous diabolo champion like Rosetta?"

Yume smiled and shook her head. She had a new dream now, one that had been born that day as she watched her older sister perform. As amazing as Rosetta was, her true idol was standing right in front of her.

"No, Sora, I want to be just like you!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you enjoyed my first _Kaleido Star _fic!

DISCLAIMER: _Kaleido Star_ doesn't belong to me.


End file.
